Monday, October 18, 2010

Less than four months ago, Oksana Grigorieva was the “poster child” of the domestic violence victim. She garnered much support and even sympathy after the details of the January 6, 2010 domestic abuse detail surfaced. Mel Gibson’s taped rant and tirade sent chills down the spines of even the most hardened of people. No one thought Mel would survive this one. It seemed clear, to all, he was going down this time. To make sure I wasn't missing something, I called a few of my detective buddies at Lost Hills Sheriff's Station and found that they concluded as similarly as I---that Mel Gibson committed a crime against Oksana and if it were any other person, he or she would have been arrested on the spot.

The evidence (compared to the typical DV case) was overwhelming--a report from Oksana, taped calls corroborating Oksana’s words, a suspect clearly afflicted with anger, among other issues, medical records and statements consistent with the injuries, and another victim who says similar crimes have happened to her.

So how is that in four short months the tides have changed so much that Oksana is not only disbelieved, but she is loathed and Mel is coming out seemingly clean? Are the coming and goings of 39 lawyers, as reported by TMZ, a sign that Oksana’s case is weak or that no one can take control? Is the difficulty because of Oksana or because of the people around her? Are there just too many ego driven people who want a piece of celebrity, so much so that they cannot get a cohesive plan together? Whatever the reasons are, the state of the case is most telling.

Mel’s camp has succeeded in the court of public opinion because they have been rock solid in how and where they fight the battle. They have a strategy, and the team works together. You don’t see Stephen Kolodny or Blair Berke being quoted all over the place. You see a solid team with a solid division of labors with no credit or stardom needed. You don't see Mel's lawyers releasing evidence to TMZ before it gets to the sheriff and DA. And if you don’t think this matters, think again.

As the DA’ s office is deciding what to do about filing domestic violence charges against Mel and/or extortion charges against Oksana, be aware that the Los Angeles District Attorney has a written policy mandating the filing Deputy DA to consider the likelihood of successful prosecution. And what better way to tell what potential jurors are thinking than reading what the wing nuts are saying on TMZ? Twelve-hundred negative comments per post doesn't bode well for successful prosecution.

Please do not get me wrong here. I am not saying there is not a case for domestic violence against Mel, but what I am saying is the lack of laser focus by Team Oksana has made the chances for the DA’s office to engage less likely. Remember, the prosecutor has the sole discretion of whether or not to file a case, and, if they don’t feel that they can prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt, they don’t need to file it.

The best piece of PR in this case would be a filing by the DA on Mel and a rejection of the extortion charged on Oksana. And instead of Team Oksana making that happen, they have been too busy giving quotes to TMZ, arranging Oprah, and booking People, all of which have backfired.

So, Team Oksana, take a lesson from the Fortune 500 companies when they are in crises. I am not saying the lame basics, like “be transparent.” You need to go further--choose a leader (a real leader, one who has Oksana’s best interest at heart), be honest, be available, be forthcoming, and, by all means, fight your battle in the courtroom. We are all watching your every single move, and you must think beyond today, as we will remember this case not for the details, but for how it was handled.

35 comments:

Anonymous
said...

I do not agree with this article. OG has shot herself in the foot all on her own, without the help of the numerous attorneys on her legal team that has become a revolving door. Her statements have been inconsistent, and the interview with People Magazine was a disaster. No one was holding up cue cards for her to read, were they? And who can forget that disastrous "exclusive" interview she gave with ROL in front of Ralph's store.

As far as the "medical evidence" you refer to, this has also proven to be inconsistent and "shaky," to quote a source from LA County Sheriff's office. And there is the question of whether the tapes were edited.

I think Ms. Sax has gotten ahead of herself a bit here...interesting for someone who resigned this case some time ago. With all respect, this sounds a bit like PR without all of the facts...and that is "wing nuttery" in and of itself.

Sorry but the public is not buying the smelly stuff that Oksana and her lawyers are selling anymore. Mel has been vilifed, tried and convicted in the court of public opinion as opposed to the law. Oksana made sure that happened because she is far more interested in destroying him than any "justice".

I agree with the other blogger - Oksana's story has changes repeatedly, her medical "evidence" is ridiculous at best, she was more interested in shopping for lawyers than going to the police, the tapes are incomplete recordings and on and on. She thought she could play the DV victim and everyone would roll over for her but anyone who has actually followed this case can tell that there is something rotten in LA.

Simply put, Oksana craves the limelight, she wants to be a star, this is obvious with every step she takes. She has crapped all over the work advocates have done for real DV victims and it infuriates me.

The 'wing nuts' at TMZ have uncovered many many lies about the Ox, starting from when she was in her teens, with old articles found on Russian sites. One needs to read many of them and then compare notes an ddates adn THINK to see the real Ox. She's tried very hard to hid her lying extorting past.

'Wing nuts' evidently is defined as 'educated people that care about injustice and a slated/lying media enough to research and come toether overcoming differences to compare notes and information for months to uncover the TRUTH.

I'm a DV survivor, not a 'wing nut' so excuse you, blog-keep. Mel Gibson admits he has problems, has sought out help but it doesn't mean he beat the woman. DV victims' stories don't repeatedly change their stories like Oksana or do they play the money game or use their children as pawns. I'd say true DV victims (you know the ones that ones that can admit their mothers goaded their fathers when they were drunk so her own kids would be beat so she could keep playing her victim/martyr roles--everyone is sick the DV cycle) can smell BS when they see and hear it. Break the cycle of violence for the next generations, by being HONEST. Gibson is a foul mouth, at times racist ranter. No woman in their right mind would have done what she did...she harms women by even suggesting they do as she did, all for the love of fame and $$$.

The slant is obvious. What isn't obvious in this article is that Ms Sax consulted with Ms Grigorieva regarding this case. Although ultimately not retained, this glaring omission appears both self serving and disingenuous.

Not a Wing-Nut just another DV survivor, and as MANY others have stated her actions are NOT that of a DV victim. When I was abused I went STRAIGHT to the police! They documented my case for me. I had no desire/reason to 'collect' the blackmail - extortion "evidence" which is ALL shady dealings. If you had any sense YOU would do YOUR research before you post! The pictures of the baby exibit a PIMPLE where the baby bottle sits on her chin. (I've had 2 kids and if that is child abuse, I AM GUILTY too!) The pictures of HER are (if you took the time to look closely) were pictures of her BEFORE she had her nose-job. (it's as clear as the nose on her face, so to speak!) And those tapes, Soooo edited, spiced/diced and self-serving to HER. By the way, that whole "Rose Garden" comment you Oksana people love to quote, is a reference to a MENTAL Facility by the same name. OMG, you folks who think this woman is truthful are gullable as children. GET a CLUE, the Public in general DO NOT BELIEVE HER, Because we can SEE through HER BS! She has "Trivialized" Domestic Violence Victims, Not Mel! He's the victim here, NOT HER!

Wow! I'm not sure I should comment here considering all the other negative comments. I definitely agree with Ms. Sax, Mel's image was cleaned up and I do believe it was done with the PR assistance of his lawyers.

As Ms Sax said, in the beginning the evidence appeared overwhelming. I admire Mel's ability to bring characters to life in his movie roles. But, I admit his ability also makes me go hmmm with his new cleaner image too. He's a great actor after all.

As far as his accuser and her alleged ever changing stories, look what she and her lawyers are up against. Shouldn't there be a presumption of innocent until proven guilty for her too?

Perhaps Oksana should not have went to Gloria Alred and Eric George to see how much money she could get first..but went to the POLICE so if, she had injuries, they would have recorded. Oksana was too worried about appearing on the red carpet and at Mr. Chow's with a movie star, promoting her music career. She also was at the time was gathering her evidence for extortion by goading Gibson...where are the other 9 tapes, the police reports? the swelling and tissue damage in pictures, time-stamps? Why did accuse Timothy Dalton of DV when she wanted more money out of him also? Why does Oksana have a pattern of using men for money? Getting pregnant by famous actors? What does Oksana contribute to the support of her children? Why was Herzog threatening Violet Kowal on Oksana's behalf and why did Gloria Alred tell her to keep quiet, Violet then fired Gloria. Is Lisa Bloom covering something up for her mother? Perhaps Oksana would have been smarter to do as other women do and settled the matter by going to the police and through the court not by blackmailing Oprah to play piano and sing for an interview or the same to People magazine or by selling her tapes, oops the old botox/pre-plastic surgery/baby pimple pictures to RadarOnline.

It is no secret nor is it hidden (it's all over the news) that I have been involved in this case. As a matter of fact, if you click on the link provided in the article itself, the link goes right to that information. The fact that I gave a direct link in this article that specifically names me as having consulted with Team Oksana is a clear indication it wasn't meant to be an omission. It is titled "39 Lawyers" and is linked above. Here it is again:

Further, my thoughts and feelings on this issue come not just from my outside observation but in fact from my direct experiences with Team Oksana. I am commenting specifically from my personal experience in this case. I didn't think I needed to spell it out. That would seem more self-serving then leaving it as an inference.

My suggestion in this article is clear: I urge Team Oksana to stay focused and not play this all out on TMZ any further. If the lawyers practiced law instead of PR, i.e. fought the battle in the courtroom and with the D.A.'s office, the chances of success would be much better. Oksana, as a domestic violence victim, needs people who care about her and can use their experience to bring her justice -- not a bad rep.

Dear Ms SaxThis article is insulting to true victims of domestic violence and the intelligence of the public. It is biased, yellow journalism like this that inspires me to leave comments objecting. For the first time we, "joe public", have a voice. How about give credit to other women who aren't paid to do damage control who can see through Oksana's obvious lies? Mel is a loud mouth but the recordings were ALTERED. All evidence looks tampered with or exaggerated to the public (a baby's zit from a punch in the face? Riiiiight...)

I happen to also have close friends at Lost Hills Sheriff's Dept and they are saying exactly the opposite: they believe Mel is innocent and this woman is a sociopath and golddigger.

Too little too late; your client is a pathological liar and fame whore. The more you try to smear the public and call us stupid the worst it looks. How about tell the truth for once?

If you so belive in your former client, why did you withdraw from the case?

Why do you refer to TMZ posters, many educated profeesionas including lawyers among them, as 'wing nuts' if not meaning to slant opinion against the truth on the Ox that they have brought forth and hence against mel Gibson?

You ridiculous fraud! Every bit of "overwhelming evidence" you site in your second paragraph has been discredited - and continues to be discredited - by none other than "wing-nut" Harvey Levin - whose site originally broke the DUI incident and who could hardly be called a member of Mel's cheerleading section. So you have "close-buddies" in the Sherrif's department (un-named, of course...). Did they tell you that no acusations of violence were ever filed BY ANYONE at the time? I mean, what "laser focused" research do you do when you're on a case? And what do your "close buddies" imagine these corrupt lawmen would have hauled him in for? Yes, corrupt! This is what you and your imaginary "Sherrif buddies" are accusing the cops, the DA and even themselves of being. Corrupt, star-struck, on-the-take crimminals. The difference is, cops have to follow rules of some kind...unlike you. Yeah, there are wing-nuts out there, then there are lying lawyers - with political, social and monitary agendas...MUCH SCARIER.

Relax and have faith. I do agree w/ Ms Sax....To me, it seems that Oksana's legal team is taking advantage of her vulnerability and her victim/survival thinking.I believe Oksana could use some self growth which will empower her enough to set some boundaries for herself....It will then, be when Oksana will see that her legal team is throwing her under the bus....My opinion... Ms Sax refuses to be thrown under the bus ...

Dear Ms SaxIsn't this unethical of you to go on a smear campaign instead of keeping this in the court where the judge asked that it remain? As someone else just said what happened to innocent until proven guilty? Only Oksana's team has done this, Mel's not at all who haven't said a word since the judge put a gag order on the case (remember that, Robin?). Us public "wing nuts" get called names for disagreeing with your opinion? We are just as good as you are and many many people simply don't believe Oksana, world wide. We all know someone who knows someone with opinions on all sides so until you cough up the name of the friends at the Sheriff's Dept that claim that, please respect the judge and cut it out, and keep it in the court like a lawyer with any class would do.

Does anyone else think its funny that this post about Mel Gibson has had more comments that a majority of the other posts that don't have anything to do with celebrities? And we wonder why celebrities are treated differently and get away with so much more than the rest of us "pions" ... I think if we stopped feeding into the idea that celebrities should be idolized and obsessed over, and focused more energy and attention on what is happening in our own lives and communities, then our country would be a much better place.

@RockyroadYou are posting, too. In general I agree with you but to defend a person that is believed to be innocent is a good deed, not "idol worship". Mel is being slaughtered in the press and yet the public aren't buying it. If I knew of a non-celebrity going through a similar thing, I'd post my beliefs, too. In fact, I even post on dog lists and education lists so to generalize and say we're all "obsessed" with celebrities is incorrect. You don't know what others interests are. As a matter of fact I never read about any celebrities before this case made me raise a brow because of people like Robin Sax trying to spin a silk purse out of a sow's ear. The public has a good nose for bull pucky.

"And what better way to tell what potential jurors are thinking than reading what the wing nuts are saying on TMZ?"

So basically the entire potential jury pool is a bunch of wingnuts.

It is good to know you are willing to insult not only a cross section of this country, but people from many other countries on behalf of a client whose questionable past started long before Mel Gibson entered the picture. The real wing nut is this woman abusing the system and making a complete mockery of true domestic violence victims.

Sorry but this isn't even about Mel Gibson anymore. Oksana was the one who WANTED this to go through the court of public opinion, how else to explain the bizarre interviews in the ROL website, People magazine, and her attempts to go on Oprah? I don't know if her attorneys are the ones who are forcing her to do this, but even if they are, she obviously agrees with them, or else she wouldn't have fired her family lawyers and hired Gloria Allred's daughter instead. Oksana is a 40 year old woman who already has two kids, at some point she has to start taking responsibility for her own actions and stop blaming everyone else for the things she's said and done. Mel Gibson did NOT force Oksana to go on a publicity spree,he did not force her to contradict her own stories, he did not force her to continuously keep changing her lawyers, and he is also NOT at fault for the backlash she's now receiving from the public. The only good strategy he and his team are doing is just keeping their mouths shut and allowing the court to handle their case rather than in the court of public opinion. I understand that domestic violence is a terrible crime and deserves attention, but at least there has to be credible evidence other than what Oksana keeps showing us so far. Tapes that some experts have believed to be altered are not proof positive that any domestic violence occurred, and no one in their right mind would buy into the idea that a baby pimple was caused by being accidentally struck by a fully grown man the size of Mel Gibson.

Ok, if Oksana is "concerned" for their daughter, then why don't she focus on family court instead of focusing on ways to get a some dollars from Mel? Ok, first, why do an infant need 20k per month? I mothers that live off with much less than that per month and still raises a child that make it to college. Second, she was offered 15 million and signed the paper work which makes it legal and then tried to walk away from it after meeting with Gloria Allfred. If Mel is making the child support payments why is it hard for her to allow him to see his daughter? The man only want to be in constant contact in his daughter's life. There are childrens today whose missin parent does not even send them a greeting card. If he is not a danger to his child and he is not trying to take there child from her, what other motivation is it but money.

Also, she need to outline and document why Mel need to pay 20k per month for child support. The Judge acted to hastely on this without investiating her motives. If she is broke, then she need to stop with the dog and pony show because all her money and her kids money is being used for lawyers.

I thought california have a strict law against parents who uses child support money for thins not related to the child in question? Don't Mel pay for the house she is living in? They are not married why is she being treated like she is a spouse? A lot of double standards in play.

Btw, thousands of other abuse victims do not have the options and benefits that Oksana has. I find it sickening that one woman who happened to have a baby with a celebrity can have the luxury of hiring and firing 40 lawyers when those in less fortunate situations can barely get any help from the legal system and have nowhere else to go to. It is disgusting that Oksana has trivialized the seriousness of domestic violence and made it that much harder for victims to be believed. It is appalling that she keeps getting away with this just because some people have issues with mel Gibson. No one has to like him to see that most of her stories are a complete farce.

To Ms. Sax regarding your comment: "I urge Team Oksana to stay focused and not play this all out on TMZ any further. If the lawyers practiced law instead of PR, i.e. fought the battle in the courtroom and with the D.A.'s office, the chances of success would be much better. Oksana, as a domestic violence victim, needs people who care about her and can use their experience to bring her justice -- not a bad rep."

You continue to overlook the fact that Grigorieva has done quite a bit of damage to her reputation with no help from her attorneys whatsoever. She is the one giving interviews, which started with the ROL street interview; these have been far more damaging to her reputation than anything that was "leaked" to TMZ by her legal/PR team. I am shocked and disappointed that you would publish such a slanted article.

To state that she is a DV victim before the facts have been heard in court is unconscionable. You chastise her legal/PR team, yet publish your own bit of PR without all of the facts. Shameful.

In this case we will check how work American justice system.Golddiger belongs in jail, but who is behind her have to be investigated and jail as well.This women was no-one and she will no-one. All world is watching 21st centuries scheme. Hopefully CIA will investigate

Oksana is not an abused victim, she is a disgrace to all women by using her childrenas meal tickets. I am disgusted by her constantparading in the media asking for sympathy,her ever-changing stories and her pathologicallies. She is making mockery of all real DV victims. She is just a FAME WHORE!

Ms.Sax, what kind of reputation did Oksanahave? As we can see from the British media, her reputation (even in England where she lived before moving to US) was of a woman who uses men as stepping stones, a user and a gold digger.Is that the reputation that should be rehabed?

You can't rehab a reputation that goes all the way back to her first marriage in Russia where she lied about her husband and said he was a drug addict. He was actually the son of a prominent Anesthesiologist and is an attorney. This woman has lied her entire life and continues to lie to this day to the camera on things that the public knows are not true. You can't put the cat back in the bag now. It is way beyond that.

She married the first time to get out of the country, the second time (which she lied on the cohabitation agreement about) to gain British citizenship. (He referred to her as an opportunist..duh.) Then she has become pregnant twice accidentally by two famous rich men and has lived off of child support or men her whole life. Rehab...yeah right. She needs a complete do over!

What she needs is to be deported out of our country and quit abusing tax payers dollars with her ridiculous mess she created all by herself.

A good article by Robin with some solid advice. It is obvious to anyone that has heard anything about this case that the comments here loudly sound as though not only Team Mel is here complaining, but possibly Mel himself spewing forth with his recognizable rants. It would not matter how much attention anyone would seek, what they said or did in the past, or how they are perceived by the public.....abuse is abuse. He needs help, he needs attention not only from a good therapist, he also needs to be attended to by the legal system that is here to protect the public. His fame, his many fans or his checkbook cannot exclude him from justice any longer. Enough, enough now!

"I'm standing here with my hands on my hips and watching how some ukranian slut with distorted face fooling around AMERICAN JUSTICE SISTEM because of freedom to" do what ever you want" and it's becomming very interesting.What about Mel Gibson- one of the members of Great American Nation, who work and work and work to have American Nation great?"It,s a great post. People over the world see the truth. Only disgusting lying haters can support this lying gold digger.

What a joke of an article. So glad I ran across it. Ox needing a reputation rehab - no truer words have been spoken, but probably in a different way than Robin Sax means. So glad I am strong enough that I don't swallow what someone else says just because they are a female like me. Ox = liar